Thanks to Mike Cardinale for organizing NM Sam Schmakel's simul at the Lincoln Square Marbles to publicize the 2013 Illinois Tour, and of course thanks to Sam for generously donating his time.

I pointed out to the participants that I am still undefeated against Sam in tournament play (for an example of Sam's play at age nine(!), see page 6 of this PDF). Sam quietly replied, "There's a board available"; wisely, I chickened out.

Sam scored a perfect 12-0 in the simul (several experienced tournament players, including Paul Kash and Keith Ammann, were among his victims), and played one of the boards blindfold. After the event, I bought a tchotke for the office and a game for a relative: Marbles is a fun place to shop!

One gets the impression that Astana, Kazakhstan, is colder than Chicago.

Weather notwithstanding, Viktorija Ni had a very solid performance as the alternate for the U.S. in the Women's World Team Championship. Her win against Olga Giyra of Russia was decisive in the U.S.'s 2½-1½ win; it's featured on Chess Life Online.
That match, and Irina Krush's performance on board 2, were the highlights for the U.S. team. Ukraine won the event, and the U.S. took sixth place.